Paired cylindrical gears in Fusion 360 - plugin (update)

Hello everyone. In this video I’ll show changes in updated version of Parallel Gears Shafts Maker (old “Single gears shafts maker”). All links both to the installers and other pages are available under the video. If you like the video please thumbs up and subscribe the channel. Interface has been divided into four tabs and reorganized. On each tab you can see “Menu” section which contains few groups of buttons.

00:24 - First group are buttons for save, load and reset which were moved from the bottom. Next row is used for showing coarse model of designed pair. Model can be displayed without or with parameters. “Units” row let’s to switch units between millimeters and inches for non-angular fields. Last row determines which mode for pairing gears is used. Both gears can be external, only wheel can be internal or pinion can be internal. “Menu” section is visible on each tab so changing main options is available everywhere. First tab “Main parameters” contains most important setting of gears like module, number of teeth, theirs shape, thickness or pressure angle It also displays ratio, right below the teeth number. Second tab “Modifications” contains settings for modifying teeth. In this place you can change such parameters like profile shift, taper factor, backlash or side chamfers.

01:27 - Both pinion and wheel has its own group of these parameters. For external gears there is also top land thickness displayed. Chamfers option has now two other modes: for right and left side separately. “Add joints?” switch is used to add joints automatically. I’ll explain it later. On the third tab “Transmission” you have access to defining orientation of wheel in relation to pinion. It can be set by X-Y shift or by angle.

01:56 - Setting orientation by angle let’s change the wheel’s placement around the pinion’s center in a counter clockwise direction (CCW). There are four predefined settings like 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees and the last button which let you to set the angle manually. In this mode center distance between gears is always the same. If you want to change X and Y coordinates of wheel’s center, for example, round values to the natural numbers, you need to switch to the “X-Y” mode. This is available only when at least one profile shift factor is unlocked, otherwise there’s no possibility to change theirs values and thus center distance.

02:38 - Changing X/Y values will automatically match the gears. If profile shift factor is locked algorithm will try to modify only the second one. Of course, there’s a limit of range for reasonable solutions, so if changes will be too big, algorithm won’t calculate it. When one gear is internal, automatically calculated profile shift for the external gear will be always zero. You can still change both shift coefficients if one of the gear is internal but you must remember that internal gear must have at least the same value of profile shift than in external gear.

03:11 - Mathematically there’s no problem for unlock this, but results will be absurd due to interferences and such gears wouldn’t work. If you need to get specific values of X-Y but with changing both coefficients in case when one gear is internal, you can always try to change and check results in the third mode of preview. On the fourth tab “Information” there are links for plugin files and documentation. By clicking the “Check for updates…” button you’ll get information if a new version appeared on the store. Other additional things are: displaying estimation time (the more runs, the more accurate results), ability of cancelling progress, information icon in the bottom of the window.

04:10 - Under the hood there’s also a better algorithm for generating tooth’s profile when they have undercuts. Each component has also parameters saved inside. If you need to check the details you can get them from the “Properties” field. Now I’ll explain how to use joints and tell more about saved parameters. Joints are useful for performing motion analysis but first, let’s get parameters from pinion and wheel. Getting proper motion formula is simple and the only thing which needs to be done is to copy it and paste to the driving gear’s expression field. For example, if wheel is an input (i) and pinion output (o) you need to use the second one. Parameters keep most of the values used by the plugin. Wheel has also a section which contains data about placement: X, Y, orientation angle and rotation of itself. Ok, so prepare some simple mechanism using this plugin. Assume that we need something like this.

05:34 - Dimensions and usability aren’t necessary now. It’s only for illustrative purpose. Let’s split this thing to three pairs: - driver gear with ring (B view), - second driver with the upper gear (A view), - second driver with the bottom gear (A view) First pair, driver and ring, should be oriented by angle. Pinion needs to be an internal gear. Module as ¹⁄₁₆ of inch, pinion teeth number 30, wheel 16. No profile shifting, 20 degree herringbone teeth in normal view and a half inch thickness. Now, let’s prepare the second end - B. Assume such requirements on this side: module 2mm, driver 20 teeth, upper gear 40 teeth, lower 45, thickness 16mm, straight teeth with chamfers on the left.

07:13 - First, let’s prepare divider and the upper gear. Ok, now the third pair. Now, merge all those pairs copying components of 2nd and 3rd pair to the 1st pair design. Let’s merge a ring with the second driver. Copied components don’t have joints so they must be prepared manually. The last step is to enter motion links. Here we have. That’s all. I hope the changes and example will be useful, especially for those who are new in Fusion.

17:34 - If you like this please thumbs up and subscribe the channel. Thank you again for watching this and see you next time. Bye. .